Mbchabism tob kotos-vehicles



P. w. VANDERHOFF. DIRECTION SIGNALING MECHANISM FOR MOTOR VEHICLES.

I APPLICATION flu-:0 MAY 15. 1918. 1,303,422.

Patented May 13, 1am.

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avwowtoz 1 P. w. VAN-DERHOFF. DIRECTION SIGNALING MECHANISM FOR MOTOR VEHICLES.

I I APPLICATION FILED MAYI 5. 1918 Patented May 13,l91%;.

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PAUL\W. VMIDERHUFE, 01* TOIPEEA, KANSAS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented lt'lay l3, lll llllli tu-iplnel application filed May 1, ion", Eerie! Ito. 165,702. Divided. end this appli at on filed m lit, use.

, semen in). essence.

Thrill whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Pure W. Venues HOFF, e citizen of the United States, residct Topelm in, the county of Shawnee end State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Direction- Signaling Mechanisms. for MotonVehicles, of which the fOllt wing is e specification,

This invention relates to on improved direction signaling mechanism for motor vehicles "being e division of my pending alpplicetion. for motor operated direction indi cater for vehicles, filed May 1, 1917, E'aeriel ll uinber 165,702.

The invention has as its primery object -to provide rotetehle signaling devlcesadapted. to he mountedst the frontend rear of e vehicle to he turned to certain positions solecti'vely so as to indicate an intention of the driver to proceed straight eheed, to stop,

. to turn to the right, or to turn to theleft And the invention has es a further Ob ect to provide an cfi'ective electrically actuated controlling mechanism for rotating the Sig ,nuls and stopping the said signals at a do sired position. v

Gather end incidental objects will appear as the description proceeds, In the drew ings "wherein I have illustrated the preferred embodiment oifL ffli ofinvcntion, and wherein similar refcre oe c erecters designate corresponding parts throughout the severel'vievvsfi I l ignre 1 is" elfregrnentary plan View 'showinn one'ol in im roved si nelinmflde pi i V vices arranged in/feont of a conventional type of motorvehiclo,

Fig. 2 is "egngentery front elevation more particularly illustrating the mount of thesigneling'deviceg Fig. 3 35; n fregmenteiy sectional view showing the motor controlling mechanism'of the. device, v Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan view showinp, a slightly modified form of the invention,

File, 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4: but show ing a difierent position of theparts, and

6 is a diagrammatic view of the win inn" system employed for actuating and controlling the signals;

In carrying out theinvention one of the improved signaling devices is preferably employed at the front and rear of the vchicle, However, as said deviceslereidentitor 12. A huh is fixed directly to the forward end of the motor shaft and carries arms 14 upon the outer ends of which are mounted. suitable signal lights es conventionally shown at 15. These lights will, there- "fore, he turned as the motor shaft is turned. A helical spring 16 is connected at one end to the h'ra-cket and at its opposite end to an arm 17 extending; from the rear end of the Inotor shaft and normally holds this arm 1n engagement with a stop housing" 20. This housing is substantially arcuete in front elevation and Ushepcd in eross section; With the arm 17 in engagemcnt with the stop 18, the signal light carrying arms 14 are in horizontal position. The rear wall 21v ofthe housing carries a plurality of spaced solenoids 22, The plungersQ-e, of these solenoids are provided at their for- Werd ends with stop rods 24: which eidend through hearing ple'tesflfi secured against the, forward ends of the solenoid coils. end

are projectible through openings 26iforiued the plungers and stop rods in retre oted po-' sition, the plungers being held against dis 18 extend: ing inwardly from the front wall 19 ef-s placement by heeds28 formed upon the outer ends of the stop rods and engaging with the plates 25. When any solenoid is energized its stop rod will beextended for- We'rdl'y into the path of the arm 17 so as to 4 limitthe" turning of the motor shaftand" consequently, of the signals.

The solenoids ere so disposed-that upon the energizetion of the first of thescid solenoids and the motor, the motor shalt will he turned until the erm l'l' engages the. stop rod of the said solenoid, which rod will have been, of course, projected coincident with the onerglzstion of the solenoid, for;

limiting further turning of the motor shaft. Under these conditions, themotor sheft will be held in such position as long as the motor and solenoid remain energized. As soon. as 110 lilo one

the cirlaiits to the motor and solenoid are broken, the spring 16 will turn the motor shaft in a reverse direction until the arm '17 engages the stop 18. A similar operation will take place when the second solenoid and the motor are energized, the spring 16 being adapted to return the motor shaft to normal position upon the deiinergization of the said solenoid and motor. in like manner, a similar operation will followwhen the third solenoid and the motor are energized. in this latter instance, the spring 16 will, of course, return the motor shaft to normal. position upon the dci nergization of the said solenoid and the motor. When turning of the motor shaft ischecked by the first solenoid, the signal arms 1% will have traveled through an angle of substantially forty-five degrees from normal position and will be disposed to indicate an intention to turn the vehicle to the left. l Vhen the turning of the motor shaft is checked by the second Solenoid, the signal arms will have traveled through an angle of substantially ninety degrees andwill be disposed. vertically to indieate an intention to stop the vehicle. When the turning of the motor shaft is checked. by the last of the solenoids the signal arms will have traveled through an angle of substantially one hundred and thirty-five degrees and will be disposed to indicate an intention to turn to the right. When in normal position the signal arms will be disposed to indicate an intention to proceed straight ahead.

Any desired wiring system may be employed for controlling the action of the motor and solenoids, a simple form being that shown in Fig. 6, in which one pole of a battery 29 or other suitable source of electrical energy is connected by a wire 30 with the switch blades of a. plurality of switches 31, 32 and 33 respectively, wires 34, 35 and 36 connecting the contacts oi these switches with the respective solenoids Wires 3?, 38 and 89 lead from the solenoids res pocti vely to a wire it), which leads to one binding post of the motor 12, and a wire ail leads from the other binding post of this motor to the free pole of the battery 29/ Normally all of the switches are open and it will be evident thatthe closing of anyone of the switches will close a circuit from the battery through spending solenoid to the motor, and throi-igh the motor back to the battery, one switch'con trolling the setting of the signal to indicate an intention to turn to the left, another controlling the setting of the signal to indicate an intention to stop, and the last controlling the setting of the signal to indicate an intention to turn to the right. All of these switches may be mounted in a single switch box which may he of any approved character and accordingly has not been shown. Howsaid switch, through the col-re women over, the switch box is preferably of su h nature that it may be mounted upon the steering wheel of the vehicle so that .in order to give any desired signal, the driver oil the vehicle need only close the proper switch when the signal will be immediately turned to the selected position and held in such posit-ion until the switch is opened. Obviously, a set/of circuits identical with that shown in Fig. 6 may be employed for the motor at the rear of the vehicle as well as for the motor at the front of the vehicle and their controlling solenoids, and each 01' the switches connected to control corresponding circuits to the front and rear.

In Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings, 1 have illustrated a modification of the invention in which the standard ii of: the motor 4? has pivotal connection with the bracket -14 so that the motor may swing from right to left and in which such standard caries av sprocket gear 4: about which trained a sprocket chain 46 which is also trained about a sprocket wheel 47 upon the steering column of the vehicle or equivalent mechanism thereof. A housing is corrcspomliug to this housing 20 and inclosing the same controlling mechanism is, in this instance, secured to the body of the motor by brackets 49 so that the said] housingwill always occupy the same relative position with respect to the motor shaft. Obviously, this signaling device will operate in the same manner as the signaling device shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, but the motor and signaling device will be turned in such manner that the lights carried by the signal arms will always be directed in the direction in which the front wheels of the vehicle are traveling, The signal lights will, therefore, serve to light up the road for the driver of the vehicle when rounding curves.

In connection with my improved electrically operated signaling mechanism, I may employ aset of audible signals such as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 6, in which an electric horn is connected in the Wire 35, an electric bell in the wire 34, and an electric buzzer in the wire 36, these signaling de vices being indicated diagrauunatically at :50, 51 and rcs' 'icctivcly. Under these cireumstances, a distinctive audible signal will be given, corresponding to the visual signal given by turning of the lights.

aving thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In signals for vehicles. an electric motor adapted to be supiiiorted at the front or rear of a. vehicle, a signal carried by the motor shaft. an arm fired to the shaft and fn'ojecting ll'iereifrom to be swung by the shaft, yieldable means crumcctzal to the arm for normally holding the shaft in one position, and means mounted in concentric relation to the axis of the shaft and .2lectively Loom-en project ihle into the path of said arm for stopping theshuft in predetermined other positions.

2. ln. signals for vehicles, on electric motor adapted to he supported at the front or rear of a, vehicle and having an armature shaft, n signal carried by said shaft, n housing disposed at therenr of the motor, on.

nrin fiXcd to the shaft and projecting therefrom to he swung by the shaft within the housing, a stop projecting from thewall of the housing, a; spring connected to the arm and normally holding the arm in. ongng'ement with said stop for maintaining the shaft in one osition, and menus ar ranged in concentricrelation to the axes of the shaft and selectively projectiblo into the path of said arm for stopping the shaft in predetermined other positions.

3. In signals. for vehicles, an electric motor adapted to he supported at the from:

or rearof n'vehicle and having an nrmntitre shift, a casing mounted adjacent the motor z -nd hn'ving a, Wall thereof provided with openings, an arm carried by the shaft to be swung thereby, yieldnhle means connected to said arm for norumlly holding the shaft in one position, and means selectively pro jeetible across the path of said nrm into a corresponding one of sand. openings in the casing for stoppingthe shaft in predotermined other positions.

4. In signals for vehicles, on electric motor adapted to be supported at the front or rear of a, vehicle and having an armature shaft, an nrmcarried by the shaft to be swung thereby, yieldable means connected rods being selectively projectible by the solenoids into the path of said ,arm for.

stopping the motor shaft in other positions.

in testimony whereof I ailiz; my signature.

PAUL W. VANDERHOFF. [L.B.]

predetermined 

